Final run 2011

 Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

The final run of 2011 takes place through the mud and tree's and appropriately in the dark. I run with Jerry as he goes for a personal milestone and I'm pleased to do so, I think we under estimate the importance of friendship as we go through our lives. I always get a lot of pleasure from my runs with Jerry, we are perfect foils for each other, he likes to talk and I am a better listener. He talks running philosophy and this and the camaraderie make me feel better about what I had seen as a disappointing running year. The miles go by quickly and smoothly, he invites me in to his house for a cup of tea, I should have said yes but instead ran on up the hill and home.

Shoe stable

 My running shoe stable is complete with todays arrival of my Newton MV2 shoes. My Five Finger Bikila's will remain my shoe of choice but I was happy with the maiden performance of the Newtons on a long and muddy trail run. So, top, clockwise, the Newtons, Bikila's, Inov-8 Mudroc's and aquashoes! A good variety of shoe for all conditions.

Conversation is stillborn

Every moment of one's existence one is growing

into more or

retreating

into less.

(Norman Mailer)

Conversation is stillborn and I have nothing of interest to say so I leave my home and I run beneath the scrolling clouds into the beautiful light. I know there will never be another day like this and I want to absorb myself into it. I run recklessly and without thought other than that I run for the joy of my surroundings. Amazingly for December I am still running in shorts and sockless in my Five Fingers, I charge through deep and slippery puddles not so much running as skidding. Today I don't care, only this moment in time exists and has any importance, I thrust myself chest first towards and away from myself, the mundane transformed by my movement through the tree's.

Newton MV2 shoes

I am a winner.
Thanks to the great folks at Ten-Point who ran a competition to win a pair of Newton MV2 minimalist shoes for drawing my name out of the hat - the first time I've ever won anything. Ten-Point are a specialist triathlon shop who sold me a pair of toe socks with high wool content a year ago when I needed something that was warm and would help keep my feet dry in Five Fingers. My new Newton shoes will add a nice bit of balance to my running shoe stable as a winter running shoe. They will go well with my waterproof Sealskinz socks which I was given when I subscribed to Trailrunning magazine 3 months ago, all in all I am now nicely set up for winter.